Cable briefs

Press, 26 October 1989, Page 8

Cable briefs

Aboriginal deaths noted

The mistreatment of imprisoned Aborigines in Australia is listed alongside the illegal killing of tens of thousands of civilians reported in the annual catalogue of human rights abuses released by Amnesty International yesterday. The London-based group’s annual global survey also says 1903 prisoners were executed under death penalty laws in 35 countries last year, the highest number of such executions since 1981—NZPAAAP

Bungees for the jump

Bungee-jumping stands little chance of taking off in New South Wales. The state’s Attorney-General, John Dowd, has moved to ban unauthorised bungee-jumping, parachuting, and abseiling from buildings and bridges.—NZPA-AAP

Anti-smoking advt ban

The Australian Advertising Standards Council came out in defence yesterday of a ban on a New South Wales Health Department television advertisement that showed a young woman’s lip and cheek impaled on a hook attached to a cigarette. Its chairman, Paul Toose, said the council considered that the facial mutilation scenes in the anti-smoking advertisement played on fear and were “grossly and unnecessarily distasteful.”— NZPA-AAP

Plesiosaur skeleton

A 100-million-year-old skeleton of an extinct Australian marine reptile has been found in a dry creek bed on a north-west Queensland property. The Queensland Museum has identified the skeleton as a short-necked plesiosaur of the pliosaur family, measuring 6m in length with four fins 1.5 m Iong—NZPA-AAP.

Taiwanese boat seized

Fiji police have seized a Taiwanese fishing boat pending inquiries into the deaths of two crew members, Radio Fiji reported yesterday. A police spokesman said the Sheng Wang No. 7 crew had said the two had drowned but this was not confirmed by autopsies.— NZPA-AFP.

Namibia to dye voters

Namibian authorities plan to dye voters with invisible ink to prevent fraud in the territory s independence elections next month. Namibia’s 700,000 voters must show their fingers are ink-free under fluorescent light before casting their ballot, and will then be marked so they cannot vote again—NZPAReuter. A